


Well, This is Destiny

by DustySoul



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Platonic Soulmates, Pre-Canon, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-08
Updated: 2015-04-08
Packaged: 2018-03-21 22:20:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3706181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DustySoul/pseuds/DustySoul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Buffy's pensive on the drive from LA to Sunnydale, thinking about her soulmate. Will she meet them? What if she doesn't?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Well, This is Destiny

“Packing up and old life and starting a new.” Was what her mother had called it. Buffy flicked through the binders shelved loosely into the last of the boxes. 1980-2, 1982-4, 1984-6, 1986-8, 1988-92, 1992-6, 1996-present was thin. It didn’t even have the plastic sheaths for photos to fill it out. She lingered on that one. And back again. 1992-6, 1988-92, 1986-8… Like that could fix everything. Like she could go back to the years where she had a chubby cheeked smile and her parents were sometimes in the same frame and the happiness reached their eyes. 1980-2, 1982-4, 1984-6-

“Buffy, can you help me with this box. I think I filled it with too many books.”

Buffy let the last binder fall against the rest, “Sure thing mom.” She smiled and picked up the box with ease.

“A new life.” Her mother said again.

“Sure thing.”

“A new school.”

“Yep.”

“Are you looking forward to it, sweetie?”

“Oh, uh, of course mom.” She struggled not to smile too wide.

 

California’s a big state. It doesn’t seem it’s biggest in LA, with buildings and people all crowded together like there’d never be enough space for it all. The fields, though, they’re another matter entirely. Miles and miles of fields. Rows and rows of plants spread out in the emptiness, interrupted only by the highway and the mountains. That’s when it really hits you, just how huge this place is. The whole world is.

She tries to pull herself out of her melancholy.  _Is mom just putting on a show?_ She tries to be excited. News school. That means new friends. It also means nobody knows her. Not that anyone at Hemery High knew her…

New school! Moving! New house. New town…  _How can anyone ever know me?_

Boys! Shoes! Shopping!

Yeah, she’s really not feeling it. She leans her head against the window and watches her reflection and the view out the window mingle. Sunny California. Sunnydale. Just another place to not belong, not fit in.

She scratched at her soulmark, situated on the back of her neck. She doesn’t have the words memorized, not like she used to, but she can still recall them without having to get a couple of mirrors.  _Why? I-I mean hi_. In a cramped, self contained script. It’s almost surprising, all things considered, that she even has a soul mate. Although, maybe it shouldn’t be. What with ‘destiny’ and ‘fate’ having so much fun with her life so far...

“You excited?” Her mom asked.

“Sure am.” And, of course it’s occurred to her, that maybe she’ll meet her soul mate here. But also maybe she won’t.

They pass a small town during lunch, and stopping at a few of those small, trendy looking thrift stores is enough to pull her from her mood. After that s _hoes_  is a much more satisfying pronouncement. It’s going to be fine. Heck, it’s going to be fun being the cute new girl. And those big things like “the chosen one” and “destiny” don’t seem to matter so much all of a sudden. Besides, who even said she has to fight vampires, right? She could just... not do that.

She smiles, big and bright and actually feels it. "This is going to be great." She tells her mom.

"I hope so."

There’s not a cloud in the sky. She’s 16 and so close to being free it's easy to pretend.

**Author's Note:**

> My ideas for an "after this" is that Willow and Buffy's conversation goes basically how it did in the show and neither of them really talk about it at first. But eventually they decide that this means they're supposed to be BFFs. I think a lot of Willow's insecurities about not being enough for Buffy or useful to Buffy become some much more painful when soulmates are brought into it. Especially since I think Willow has Tera's and Oz's soulmarks as well as Buffy's, and Buffy just has Willow. I might right that. Maybe.
> 
> \--
> 
> Feel free to message or follow me on tumblr at dusty-soul.tumblr.com


End file.
